Detachable support and fashion accessory for clothing

ABSTRACT

A clothing accessory includes a flexible support member having a first end, a second end, and a middle portion corresponding approximately to a midpoint between the first end and the second end. The clothing accessory includes only a single attachment member connected to the middle portion of the flexible support member. The attachment member has a first fastener portion arranged on an upper portion of the attachment member, the first fastener portion configured to fasten the attachment member to the midpoint between the first end and the second end, and a second fastener portion arranged on a lower portion of the attachment member opposite the upper portion, the fastener portion configured to removably fasten the attachment member to a clothing article.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/482,734, filed on May 5, 2011. The disclosure of the aboveapplication is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a detachable clothing accessory, andmore particularly to a clothing accessory for strapless apparel.

BACKGROUND

The background description provided herein is for the purpose ofgenerally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of thepresently named inventor, to the extent it is described in thisbackground section, as well as aspects of the description that may nototherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neitherexpressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the presentdisclosure.

Articles of clothing for the upper body may include strapless apparelsuch as strapless dresses and shirts (including tube, halter, andbandeau type garments), bikinis and other swimwear, and variousundergarments and sleepwear.

SUMMARY

A clothing accessory includes a flexible support member, the supportmember having a first end, a second end, and a middle portioncorresponding approximately to a midpoint between the first end and thesecond end. Only a single attachment member is connected to the middleportion of the flexible support member, the attachment member having afirst fastener portion arranged on an upper portion of the attachmentmember, the first fastener portion configured to fasten the attachmentmember to the midpoint between the first end and the second end, and asecond fastener portion arranged on a lower portion of the attachmentmember opposite the upper portion, the fastener portion configured toremovably fasten the attachment member to a clothing article.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will become more fully understood from thedetailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a clothing accessory according to the principles ofthe present disclosure;

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate example uses of the clothing accessoryaccording to the principles of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example attachment member of the clothingaccessory according to the principles of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 5-8 illustrate side views of attachment members according to theprinciples of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 9-11 illustrate another example attachment member according to theprinciples of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 12-15 illustrate another example attachment member according tothe principles of the present disclosure; and

FIGS. 16-19 illustrate another example attachment member according tothe principles of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A detachable clothing accessory according to the principles of thepresent disclosure is configured to removably attach to any article ofclothing. For example, a wearer of a strapless or other garment mayattach a clip of the clothing accessory to a bodice portion of thegarment. Conversely, a tie string, strap, or loop portion of theclothing accessory attaches to the wearer. For example, the loop portionmay be secured around a neck of the wearer. In this manner, the clothingaccessory provides support for the garment.

The clothing accessory keeps strapless and other apparel (including, butnot limited to, strapless, tube, halter, bikini, bandeau,undergarment-style upper-body garments, pants, shorts, skirts, dresses,rompers, and convertible cover-ups) secured to the wearer. The clothingaccessory may also include decorative elements and function as a fashionaccessory. The accessory may also be used to minimize excess material inupper-body and lower-body garments, which is accomplished by gatheringexcess material together, then clipping material within the clip. Thetie string, strap, or loop portion may be secured by any suitable meansincluding, but not limited to, a tie string or strap, hook, snap,magnetic closure, or eye-hook closure. The accessory may be attached tocarry items including, but not limited to, handbags, satchels, or anyother type of bag, sack, container or object as carry straps or to addvisual appeal to the item. The accessory provides improvements overtie/halter straps, which are permanently sewn, hooked or otherwiseaffixed to clothing items. The accessory described herein may beattached or detached to or from the desired clothing item, keepingstrapless or loose-fitting items from slipping, or adding aestheticappeal using ornamental adornments. One or more smaller clips orfasteners may be attached to multiple material tie strings or straps ina manner to create more diversity for the wearer. Alternately, a clipwith no opening for a tie string or strap may function as an ornamentalfashion accessory, or the tie string or strap may be removed from theclip for the purpose of being worn as accessory.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an example clothing accessory 100 according tothe principles of the present disclosure includes a flexible supportmember 104 and a single attachment member 108. The support member 104may include, but is not limited to, a tie string, loop, strap, cord, orchain. The support member 104 may be formed of any material withfunction, comfort and visual appeal suited for the purpose of attachingto the attachment member 108 and tying or affixing preferably, but notlimited to, around the neck of the wearer. The support member 104 isflexible and may be elastomeric. Accordingly, a length of the supportmember 104 may be sufficient to secure the support member to the wearer.The length of the support member 104 may be adjustable and/or include aone-size-fits-all range. The support member 104 may be adorned withbeading, stitching or any other means of decoration or ornamentation.The support member 104 may be tied or secured in any manner using anysuitable closures including but not limited to eye-hooks, plastic,rubber or metal buttons, snaps, hooks, or a magnetic closure. Thesupport member 104 may have raw or finished hems or ends. Fashion beadsor adornments of any size shape, material and color may be used for butnot limited to securing the ends of the support member 104.

The support member 104 is attached to a first fastener portion 112 ofthe attachment member 108. For example, the first fastener portion 112may include a hole or loop, and the support member 104 may be tied orfixedly circled or tied through the hole or loop. The support member 104is attached to the first fastener portion 112 at a middle portion 116corresponding approximately to a midpoint between a first end 120 and asecond end 124 of the support member 104.

The attachment member 108 includes the first fastener portion 112 and asecond fastener portion 128 such as a clip. The second fastener portion128 includes, but is not limited to, interfacing magnets and a cliphaving ornamental adornment. For example, a front portion 132 of thesecond fastener portion 128 may include a decorative member configuredto be removably attached to the attachment member 108.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the clothing accessory 100 is shown with astrapless dress 140. The wearer attaches the attachment member 108 tothe dress 140 and secures the support member 104 around a neck of thewearer. Similarly, the clothing accessory 100 is shown attached to abikini top 144. Those skilled in the art can appreciate that theexamples shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are not limiting, and the clothingaccessory 100 may be used with any suitable article of clothing.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the attachment member 108 is shown as anexample clip 200. The clip 200 may include, but is not limited to,interfacing magnets, and pressure sensitive, tension, alligator,bend-to-open and close clips. The clip 200 may be formed (e.g., stampedor molded) from metal, plastic, or any other suitable material.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a side view of the clip 200 is shown. The clip200 includes a back portion 204 (i.e., a portion that faces toward thewearer) and a front portion 208 (e.g., a portion that faces away fromthe wearer). Material of a garment is secured between the back portion204 and the front portion 208. For example, opposing inner surfaces ofthe back portion 204 and the front portion may include rubber or anothernon-slip surface suitable for securing the material to prevent slippingand avoiding damage to the material. A rear surface 216 of the backportion 204 may be a non-slip surface to prevent movement of the clip200 relative to the skin of the wearer, and/or may be a material thatprevents discomfort to the wearer caused by contact with the clip 200. Atension component 220 such as a spring is arranged between the backportion 204 and the front portion 208. The tension component 220 biasesthe back portion 204 and the front portion 208 into a closed position tosecure the material. Conversely, the wearer applies force to the rearportion 204 and/or the front portion 208 to open the clip 200.

The clip 200 includes an ornamental or decorative member 224. Thedecorative member 224 may be removably attached to the front portion 208of the clip 200. For example, the decorative member 224 may be attachedto the front portion 208 via magnets or a hook-and-loop fastener. Eachof the decorative member 224 and the front portion 208 may includemagnets, or only one of the decorative member 224 and the front portion208 may include a magnet while the other includes a magnetic surface(i.e., metal). Accordingly, the decorative member 224 may beinterchangeable. In other implementations, the decorative member 224 maybe fixedly attached to the front portion 208 (e.g., via adhesives and/orsoldering). The decorative member 224 may include ornamental elementsincluding, but not limited to medallions, beads, glass, ceramic, clay,wood, metal, media print, letters, numbers, images, and variousfinishes. Other example clips 232 and 236 having a removably attachabledecorative member 240 are shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 8, an example clip 300 includes a back portion 304having a magnet or magnetic surface 308, and a front portion 312 havingthe other of a magnet and a magnetic surface (or a second magnet) 316.The magnets 308 and 316 secure a garment between the back portion 304and the front portion 312. The front portion 312 also functions as aremovable decorative member. For example, a front surface 324 of thefront portion 312 may include decorative elements. Accordingly, thefront portion 312 having the magnet 316 may be removable andinterchangeable to provide different decorative appearances.

Referring now to FIGS. 9-11, another example clip 400 is shown. The clip400 may include a back portion 404 and a front portion 408 contiguouslyformed or molded as a single piece as shown in FIG. 9, and folded orbent to form the clip 400 as shown in FIG. 10. The back portion 404and/or the front portion 408 may include a kinked portion 412 to providea non-slip surface. The front portion 408 may include one or moretension prongs 416 having non-slip ends 420. For example, the ends 420may be rubber-coated. The tension prongs 416 may be pressure sensitive.For example, the prongs 416 may include a first position biased awayfrom the garment. Conversely, when pressure is applied to the prongs416, the prongs 416 may snap or flex into a second position biasedtoward the garment to secure the garment against the back portion 404.

Referring now to FIGS. 12-15, another example clip 500 having flexiblepressure sensitive members 504 is shown. The garment is secured betweena front portion 508 and a back portion 512 having the pressure sensitivemembers 504. When pressure is applied to ends of the pressure sensitivemembers 504, the pressure sensitive members 504 bend and/or snap towardor away from the wearer from a first position as shown in FIG. 13 to asecond position as shown in FIG. 14. In the second position, the garmentis secured between the pressure sensitive members 504 of the frontportion 508 and the back portion 512. The clip 500 may include aremovably attachable decorative member 516.

Referring now to FIGS. 16-19, another example clip 600 includes a backportion 604 (as shown in a rear view in FIG. 16) and a front decorativeportion 608 (as shown in a front view in FIG. 17). A support member(e.g., a strap) 612 is attached through an opening 616 in the backportion 604.

The clip 600 includes a tension spring 620 to retain the clip 600 in aclosed position as shown in FIG. 18. A wearer applies pressure to upperportions of the front decorative portion 608 and/or the back portion 604to open the clip 600 as shown in FIG. 19. The clip 600 may includefriction elements 624 such as pins (or plastic or rubber ridges orteeth) to further secure the garment.

Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will becomeapparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It shouldbe understood that the detailed description and specific examples areintended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limitthe scope of the disclosure.

The foregoing description is merely illustrative in nature and is in noway intended to limit the disclosure, its application, or uses. Thebroad teachings of the disclosure can be implemented in a variety offorms. Therefore, while this disclosure includes particular examples,the true scope of the disclosure should not be so limited since othermodifications will become apparent upon a study of the drawings, thespecification, and the following claims. For purposes of clarity, thesame reference numbers will be used in the drawings to identify similarelements. As used herein, the phrase at least one of A, B, and C shouldbe construed to mean a logical (A or B or C), using a non-exclusivelogical OR. It should be understood that one or more steps within amethod may be executed in different order (or concurrently) withoutaltering the principles of the present disclosure.

1. A clothing accessory, comprising: a flexible support member, thesupport member having: a first end; a second end; and a middle portioncorresponding approximately to a midpoint between the first end and thesecond end; and only a single attachment member connected to the middleportion of the flexible support member, the attachment member having: afirst fastener portion arranged on an upper portion of the attachmentmember, the first fastener portion configured to fasten the attachmentmember to the midpoint between the first end and the second end; and asecond fastener portion arranged on a lower portion of the attachmentmember opposite the upper portion, the fastener portion configured toremovably fasten the attachment member to a clothing article.
 2. Theclothing accessory of claim 1, wherein the first end and the second endare configured to removable attach to each other to form the flexiblesupport member into a loop.
 3. The clothing accessory of claim 1,wherein the first fastener portion includes a hole configured to receivethe flexible support member.
 4. The clothing accessory of claim 1,wherein the first fastener portion is tied to the middle portion of theflexible support member.
 5. The clothing accessory of claim 1, whereinthe second fastener portion includes a clip.
 6. The clothing accessoryof claim 5, further comprising a decorative member removably attached toa front portion of the clip, wherein a front portion of the decorativemember is visible when the decorative member is attached to the clip,and a rear portion of the decorative member is attached to the frontportion of the clip.
 7. The clothing accessory of claim 6, wherein thefront portion of the clip includes a first magnetic surface, and therear portion of the decorative member includes a second magnetic surfacearranged to magnetically attach the decorative member to the clip. 8.The clothing accessory of claim 6, wherein the front portion of the clipincludes one of a hook and loop surface of a hook and loop fastener, andthe rear portion of the decorative member includes the other of the hookand loop surface arranged to attach the decorative member to the clip.9. The clothing accessory of claim 5, wherein the clip includes first,second, and third prongs, the first prong and the second prong areconfigured to be arranged against a first side of the clothing article,the third prong is located between the first prong and the second prong,and the third prong is configured to be arranged against a second sideof the clothing article opposite the first side.
 10. The clothingaccessory of claim 5, wherein the clip includes a first magneticfastening member and a second magnetic fastening member, and wherein thefirst magnetic fastening member and the second magnetic fastening memberare arranged to connect together magnetically with the clothing articlearranged between the first magnetic fastening member and the secondmagnetic fastening member.